Baseball game



N. l. SHEEHAN.

BASEBALL GAME. APPLlcArloN 'man 050.29. 1919.

e STATES BASEBALL GAME.

Speciicatioii of Letters `Patent.

Patented Oct. 25, 1921.

Application led December 29, 1919. Serial No. 347,982.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, NICHOLAS I. SHEEHAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Lakewood, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ghio, have invented ak certain new and useful Improvement Ain Baseball Games, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The present invention relates to a game apparatus which may be termed a base ball game inasmuch as it is founded on the regulation game of base ball.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a game or game apparatus of a size which adapts it for household use, and

e. which in the manner in which it is played or operated, and in the results of playing,

closely approximates a regular game of base ball, with the elements of chance and uncer tainty, particularly yin the parts performed by the pitcher and batter, and the possibilities of securing runs being much the same as those existing in aI regular match game.

The invention may be brieiiy summarized as consisting in 'certain novel details of con- Y struction, and combinations and arrangements of parts which will be described in the specification and set forth in the appended claims.

In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the game constructed and operated in accordance with the present invention; Fig. 2 isa longitudinal sectional view of the same; Fig. 3 is.

a transverse sectional view substantially along the line 3--3 of Fig. 1 looking inthe direction indicated by the arrows; Fig. 4 is a plan view with parts broken away of the lower end of the game; Fig. 5 is a view looking toward the rear of the score board, showing what may be termed the batting apparatus, including a part which is manipulated `or shifted by the player representing the batter; and Fig. 6 is a perspective view of one part or element of the game which corresponds in a measure to the ball' used in the regulation game, but in this instance is in the form of a cube.

The game includes 'a board 10, which represents the playing field,fand which when placed on a horizontal support such Yas a V i table, is slightly inclined from the foot or j end occupied by the player representing the pitcher .to the home plate end at. which the player representing the batter will be positioned. For convenience, the two ends of.V

` the board will be termed the lower and upper ends. On the top face of the board is a representation of abase ball diamond 11, with the home plate, first, second and third bases indicated at 12, 13,;111 and 15. The three bases arepreferably provided with clips of any suitable form by which devices such as indicated at 16 representing base runners of the team at bat may be temporarily positioned as the game is played.

At the upper end of the board 10 is an upright board 17 which is preferably formed in .representation of a regulation score board being marked off to represent innings, and provided'v with hooks or the like on which may be hung score tabs such as indicated at 18 in Fig. 2, to indicate the runs scored in the different innings of the game by the two players representing the imaginary opposing teams. The player representing the batter, or more accurately, the team at bat in any inning will be positioned back of the score board, which in addition to serving as a scoring device, carries and conceals from the view of the playerv representing the pitcher of the team having the field, a shiftable or adjustable device, to be subsequently explained, representing the bat.

At the lower end of the board is a recess 19, and extending from the forward end of this recess to a somewhat similar recess 2O at the upper end of the board are a number of passageways or slots 21, along which a ball or marble indicated at 22in Fig. 2 may bel projected with some force. Pivotally mounted at the center of the lower margin of the recess 19 at the foot or lower endof the board is a projector 23 which is operated by the player representing the pitcher of the team in the field. This projector is provided with a hollow forward end of a size sufficient to receive the ball or marble 22, and it is provided with a spring plunger 24 which can be retracted and then released so as to project the marble upwardly along v.any one of the slots 21, it being understood that by Aturning the projector on its axis, in-

(representing the pitcher) can cause the ball orv marble to be projected up along any of the slots 21.

Projecting into the recess 19 from the sides of the outermost slots 21 are a pair of converging springs 26 which guide the ball or marbleback into the tubular end of the projector as the former rolls down the' `slot after having been projected up to the upper or head end of the board.

The part above described, may be described as the pitching part of the apparatus by which the player representing the pitcher or team in the field can cause the ball or marble to be projected up along any of the slots 21 as before stated.

The batting part of the apparatus which is operated by the player representing the batter of the team at bat, includes a member 27 which isl pivoted between its ends on a horizontal rod 28 positioned at the rear of the score board 17. The member 27 which may be termed the bat, is movabley along` thisrod, and its lower end projects downward into .the recess 20 so that it may be positioned by the player representingthe batter, opposite or in line with any one of the three slots 21 alongwhich the ball or marble 22 may be projected. The member 27 is so mounted with respect to its center of gravity that it normally occupies a position such as shown in F ig. 2, with its lower end projected forwardly and its upper end inclined rearwardly away fromthe score board.

Adapted tol cooperate with the bat o r member 27are three pins 29, which are aXlally movable in the score board and vproject from side to side through the same. These pins are laterally spaced so that one is directly above each of the slots 21. The pins normally project beyond the rear face o f the score.l board 17,.and they are so positioned that when the lower end of the bat 27 is in line with one of the slots 21 its upper end is opposite or in line with the rearwardly projecting end of the pin 29 corresponding to suchslot so that if the marble or ball 22 strikes the lower end of the bat 27, its upper end will be flipped toward the score board, and will strike and drive forward the pin 29 directly in front of it.

In conjunction with the bat 27 and pins 29 I employ three members or balls 30, preferably in the form of cubes, which during the playing of the game are supported on a ledge 31 at the front side of the score board, each directly in front ofone of the pins 29. The different faces of each cube 30 carry suitable data appropriate to a ball batted or struck at by the batter of al regulation base ball game such for example as foul, first base, ball, `second base, out, third base, and home run. i

In playing the game, if the bat7 is so positionedby the batter that its lower end is lin line with the slot 21 through which the pitcher projects the marble 22, the upper end of the bat is flipped forward, driving the corresponding pin 29forwarc. and projecting the ball which wvas directly in front of the pin 29 forwardly onto the playingfield, or face of the'board 10, and the datavwhich is on the upper face of the ball f team and Y the other,

the corresponding ball men 16 will be or cube 30 when it comes to rest indicates the effect of the batter striking the imaginary ball pitched bythe lmaginary pitcher. Y

The game is played in the following manner:

Usually the game is played by two players, one of whom will represent one imaginary the other imaginary team. The player representing the team in the field will take his place at the lower end of the board 10, and the player representing his team at bat will take his place behind the score board. The balls or'cubesBO are normally on the yledge 31 directly in front of the pins 29. The pitcher will then project the marble 22 up along one of the slots 21, and this will, or will not swing the bat 27, depending upon whether the batter had previously positioned the bat in line withthe slot through which Ythe pitcher projected the ball. It will be understood that the pitcher will endeavor to project the marble through a slot which isV different than that in which the batter has posi-V tioned the bat 27 on the rod 28, and the batter will endeavor to anticipate theslot through which the marble will be projected, and will position the bat 27 accordingly.

Ifthe marble on being projected, did not strike-'the bat27, itY will return down the slot and enter .thetubular endfofV the projector, and this will be regarded as one strike on the batter. If for three successive times the bat failed to strike the ball, or more accurately, the ball failed to strike the bat, the batter has struck out, in which event an out is registered against the team at bat. On the other hand, if the player represent ing the batter properly judged the slot through which the pitcher would project themarble, and positioned his bat accordingly, the marble on striking the lower end of the bat Hips the latter, and the upper part of the bat will drive forwardly the corresponding` pin 29V and this will project 30 out onto the board. The data on the upper face of the ball will then indicate what, if any,advantage has been gained by the player representing the batter by the hit. lf the word out is on the upper face, an o,utiis registered for the team at bat, or the upper face may indicate a foul, a ball, or a hit', either a-one-base hit,

va twobase hit, a three-base hitfor a home run. If' a hit was registered, one of the positioned on the proper base 13, 14 or 15. V restored in position on the ledge 31, and the playing will `Ybe' resumed'flf-a man-.was previously on a base andga hit is registered, the man on the'base willV beadvanced, or .a run scored, In fact, the scoring will be doneeXactly-asl in' a regulation'base ball gamejthough the fouts, hits, and runs are determined bythe depending upon the hit made'.V

The ballwill then vbe y N. l. SHEEHAN.

BASEBALL GAME. APPLlcArloN 'man 050.29. 1919. 

